Today, Lee Hopkins, our Team’s Pee Dee Region Coordinator and I traveled to Horry County to present our “Are You Really Taking Care of Yourself?” Behavioral Health Awareness program to the current HCFR Recruit Class. Our relationship with our friends at Horry County Fire Rescue began quite a few years ago and we have traditionally hosted their recruits here in Charleston. I have lost track of how many of their classes have visited us, but it has produced some special days for us all. Normally, we start out in the morning with a class at our office. Then, we take them over to the Fire Museum for a tour, enjoy lunch, and complete the day with them at the Charleston 9 Memorial Park. There they are given a history of the fire but more importantly, we share stories of each of our nine firefighters, to provide these recruits some understanding of just who these men were and how they loved their families, their fellow firefighters, and their community.
Well, the COVID restrictions created problems with scheduling this time and we adapted by taking our program up to them in Horry County. We were treated to quite a pleasant surprise as each of the recruits had been given an assignment concerning the fire and the Charleston 9. Many thanks to our friend, Ed Begovich for arranging the Charleston 9 part of the program. Special thanks to Nichole, one of the recruits who had prepared a presentation about the fire with tributes to each of the Charleston 9. Her presentation was very well done, factual and compassionate, and paid tribute to our 9 heroes appropriately. Thank you, Nichole, for your contribution to their memories.
Gerald